By Jane Han
DALLAS — As back-to-school season arrives in the United States, school districts popular among Koreans are on high alert as authorities start to clamp down on "boundary hopping," an illegal trick where parents fake home addresses to send their children to better schools.
Public school officials of competitive districts in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland are aggressively trying to weed out students who don't belong in their school systems by requiring parents to prove residency in a variety of ways and, in some cases, making surprise home visits to confirm that students actually live at the addresses they say.
In the U.S., boundary hoppers could end up behind bars for theft of educational services or face fines of up to $5,000, as well as paying extra tuition and local taxes. The crime is taken seriously here as taxpaying residents argue that they are educating boundary hoppers, who don't pay the same taxes, at their own expense.
"Boundary hopping is a huge headache for some schools and we know that many Koreans are at the center of the problem," says Lee, a Korean education official in Ridgewood, N.J., who didn't want to be fully named.
"I heard that several Korean students in the Ridgewood district wouldn't go directly home after school. They would go to the library, spend a few hours there until a van picks them up, stop by a few other places and then finally take them home, which is not located in Ridgewood," she said. "Someone from the Board of Education got a hold of this information and followed the van. I don't know what happened next, but people should learn from this. Authorities are watching."
Despite being a criminal activity, discussing boundary hopping isn't uncommon in the Korean community. Many say Korean parents who are fresh from South Korea are often unafraid to ask acquaintances to do them the "favor" of lending their address.
"I was asked at least three times last year alone if they could use my home address. These parents all had children in middle and high school. They didn't seem to know what kind of consequences boundary hopping would bring to me, them and their kids," says Kim Yoo-eun, who lives in Plano, Texas, a district with one of the best public schools in the state.
Education experts say boundary hopping can not only lead to monetary penalties and criminal charges, but could ruin a student's chances of entering college.
Jason Kim, a homestay liaison in Flushing, N.Y., says he regularly gets inquiries about boundary hopping from parents in Korea.
"Parents know which schools are the best and they know that it costs more to keep them at a homestay house in prestigious districts," he said, "so they try to find other ways to give their kids the best education possible."
School officials say the crackdown on address fakers will only get more aggressive in the coming years as schools struggle with tighter budgets.
"Boundary hoppers are bringing down the overall quality of education provided to legal, taxpaying students," says Lee, the official in Ridgewood. "School authorities are well aware of the problem and will probably come up with smarter ways to prevent sneak-ins."
DALLAS — As back-to-school season arrives in the United States, school districts popular among Koreans are on high alert as authorities start to clamp down on "boundary hopping," an illegal trick where parents fake home addresses to send their children to better schools.
Public school officials of competitive districts in California, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland are aggressively trying to weed out students who don't belong in their school systems by requiring parents to prove residency in a variety of ways and, in some cases, making surprise home visits to confirm that students actually live at the addresses they say.
In the U.S., boundary hoppers could end up behind bars for theft of educational services or face fines of up to $5,000, as well as paying extra tuition and local taxes. The crime is taken seriously here as taxpaying residents argue that they are educating boundary hoppers, who don't pay the same taxes, at their own expense.
"Boundary hopping is a huge headache for some schools and we know that many Koreans are at the center of the problem," says Lee, a Korean education official in Ridgewood, N.J., who didn't want to be fully named.
"I heard that several Korean students in the Ridgewood district wouldn't go directly home after school. They would go to the library, spend a few hours there until a van picks them up, stop by a few other places and then finally take them home, which is not located in Ridgewood," she said. "Someone from the Board of Education got a hold of this information and followed the van. I don't know what happened next, but people should learn from this. Authorities are watching."
Despite being a criminal activity, discussing boundary hopping isn't uncommon in the Korean community. Many say Korean parents who are fresh from South Korea are often unafraid to ask acquaintances to do them the "favor" of lending their address.
"I was asked at least three times last year alone if they could use my home address. These parents all had children in middle and high school. They didn't seem to know what kind of consequences boundary hopping would bring to me, them and their kids," says Kim Yoo-eun, who lives in Plano, Texas, a district with one of the best public schools in the state.
Education experts say boundary hopping can not only lead to monetary penalties and criminal charges, but could ruin a student's chances of entering college.
Jason Kim, a homestay liaison in Flushing, N.Y., says he regularly gets inquiries about boundary hopping from parents in Korea.
"Parents know which schools are the best and they know that it costs more to keep them at a homestay house in prestigious districts," he said, "so they try to find other ways to give their kids the best education possible."
School officials say the crackdown on address fakers will only get more aggressive in the coming years as schools struggle with tighter budgets.
"Boundary hoppers are bringing down the overall quality of education provided to legal, taxpaying students," says Lee, the official in Ridgewood. "School authorities are well aware of the problem and will probably come up with smarter ways to prevent sneak-ins."
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